Flip City
by Cybra
Summary: Three teenagers become caught up in supernatural events in the middle of Japan. *Based upon real accounts of paranormal activity.*
1. Prologue

***

Flip City

by Cybra and Spam

****

Cybra's A/N: My big sis and I doing a fic together! How cool! I came up with this idea, and my big sister Spam agreed to help _and_ volunteered her own character for the good of the fic! How cool! Anyway, these different stories will be based on accounts of paranormal activity! Think of it as Real Scary Stories meets Digimon. J 

****

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon, but Spam _does_ own Lucas Wolenczak (pronounced "Wall-in-check") from her soon to be online manga Flesh and Blood.

Prologue

It's been two years since the Digimon invaded Japan. We Digidestined and our Digimon have been leading fairly normal lives.

Well, that is, we _were._

My name is Ken Ichijouji. I am 13 years old and live in Tamachi, a part of Tokyo in Japan. I am the captain of my soccer team and am one of the brighter students at my school. I live with my parents and my Digimon partner Wormmon in our apartment.

Our apartment was the place all this weird stuff began.

The others won't go near it, saying it's way too "far out" and "impossible to be true", but one of my friends, Izzy, is hanging in there.

Izzy lives in Odaiba, another part of Tokyo, and is 16 years old. He was the president of the Computer Club at his high school until all this weird stuff started happening. He lives with his adoptive parents and his own Digimon partner Tentomon. He was a little more into this kind of stuff than I was before it happened.

After the incident that started in my family's apartment, Izzy and I teamed up with another guy – a 17 year-old who also goes to Izzy's high school as a foreign exchange student – who had just moved into Odaiba (and into Izzy's apartment) from America. His name is Lucas Wolenczak, a class clown and has a one-track mind. Once he gets on something, there's no stopping him. He thinks this kind of stuff is cool. His interest is…contagious.

At first, the three of us stumbled across one paranormal event, but now we keep seeing this stuff all over the place. It's kinda like seeing anime for the first time. You get into it, you find out that it's been going on for a long time but you never noticed, and then you find out that it's _still_ going on.

Weird? You bet it is.

We're not the Ghostbusters. We don't trap and dispose of ghosts. Heck, ghosts are only a little of what we've seen.

I guess you could call us "paranormal investigators". After seeing this stuff for a while, it kind of gets into your blood. You can't stop looking.

So these are the cases of what we have seen. Please keep in mind that all of this is real.


	2. Case #1: Rainmaker

Flip City

Flip City

by Cybra and spam

****

Cybra's A/N: This story is based off of an account I saw on Unsolved Mysteries.

****

spam's A/N: Herro peoplies…This is the first time that I have written something (although…I _technically_ didn't write on my own…I'll just…take the credit for the idea…^_^) and definitely the first time that I have done a collaboration of sorts with anyone. We'll see how this turns out and, if it doesn't blow up in our faces, we might continue writing this crazy, bizarre stuff for you peoplies. Eat it up, it's good for you! 

****

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon. Lucas is owned by spam. Let's move on.

Case #1: Rainmaker

Ken Ichijouji was hosting a party at his family's apartment in Tamachi in honor of his soccer team winning the championship tournament. Party music filled the apartment, barely quiet enough to keep from disturbing the peace. Teenagers danced along to the music and munched on the assorted snack foods. Ken's parents were more than happy to help their son run the party smoothly.

A fellow team member of Ken's sat down in an upholstered recliner, staring off into space. That day, he had been barely able to make in time for the soccer game due to the funeral for his grandfather. Unknown to his teammates, his grandfather had abused him from age 7.

"Hey, Seiji! C'mon! Let's party!" another teammate urged him, grinning from ear to ear.

Manni shivered at the way Seiji looked at him. It was not like how someone normally looked at you. It seemed that Seiji was looking at him, but did not know he was there. Manni made a hasty retreat back into the center of the party.

Ken – the captain of this soccer team – grinned. Everything was running smoothly. He had originally planned to hold the party as a celebration for at least making it _to_ the championships, but now it had changed to a victory party.

__

Plip.

A drop of water landed on his hand.

__

Plip…Plip.

He glanced up at the ceiling and noticed more water starting to fall. A voice caught his attention.

"Hey, Ken! I think something's leaking!" Mamoru – his striker – shouted to him.

Water slowly dripped down the walls. Ken's eyes grew wide as more and more water began to fall from the ceiling. Soon, it was a rainstorm in the middle of the Ichijouji living room. The entire team was drenched in only a few seconds.

Mr. Ichijouji strolled into the living room to see water falling from the ceiling and dripping down the walls. A foggy haze soon began to cover the living room. He too was drenched in a matter of seconds.

"Somebody must've left their water on above us!" Mrs. Ichijouji reasoned, running into the kitchen to grab a phone.

During all of the commotion, Seiji still sat in his chair. He was in a trance-like state, seemingly unaware of the unexpected, indoor rainstorm. He was as soaked as the other soccer players, but did not seem to notice or care.

Mrs. Ichijouji reached the kitchen to find that not a drop of water had landed in the kitchen. She noticed that the adjoining dining room was also bone dry. Temporarily forgetting about the phone, she walked around the entire apartment.

Not one of the other rooms was being drenched with water.

She returned to the kitchen where several members of her son's soccer team had gone for shelter from all the water. Her son was also taking charge of the phone.

"Ms. Hakubi, this is Ken Ichijouji in the apartment below you…Yes, it's nice to talk to you, too, but we have a little situation down here. Do you have any water running?…Could you check?…Okay, I'll wait." Ken covered the mouthpiece with his hand, still holding the ear piece to his ear, and reported to his teammates, "She's going to check."

Wormmon crawled in from Ken's bedroom, taking a detour through the hallway and the dining room. Nobody present was startled when the small Rookie Digimon arrived. The fact that Digimon were living with a select few was well known.

The green caterpillar gazed up at the group of huddled young teens and asked his partner, "Ken, why are you guys all wet?"

"Water's coming from all over the place in the living room, Wormmon."

"It's not in any other part of the house, Ken."

The young teen blinked, then turned his attention back to the phone. "Yes, I'm still here…You don't?…You're sure?…Thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.

"Well?" Manni demanded.

"Ms. Hakubi says that she doesn't have any water running at the moment. Besides, the last time she flooded out her apartment, our whole apartment got soaked. It wasn't just in one room." Decisively, Ken picked up the phone once more and began to dial.

"Who are you calling now?" another player – this time the goalie – asked him.

"I'm calling a friend of mine. I think he'd like to see this."

Ken's mother spoke up, "Ken, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Mom, I would _love_ to see the look on Izzy's face. Besides, I'm sure that there's a rational explanation for all this. Maybe he has an idea of what that rational explanation _is."_

"…All right, honey, but I'm calling the police when you're finished."

"Yes, ma'am."

~*~

Lucas Wolenczak studied his cards intently, grinning from ear to ear. His opponent did not stand a chance against his hand. He laid down a card in front of him.

His opponent – none other than Koushiro Izumi or "Izzy" to friends – laid down his own card. It matched the first card, but in a different suit.

"War!" the pair shouted, each flipping three cards in front of them, all upside down.

Lucas grinned as he laid down his fourth card, this one face up. That grin turned into a look of absolute horror. "A 2 of clubs?!"

Izzy laughed as he placed his fourth card down, face up. A 9 of diamonds. "Looks like I win this war."

"Let's see what I lost…" the older teen grumbled, looking at the three cards he would have to surrender to the son of his host family. Lucas was a 17 year-old foreign exchange student from America who would be living with the Izumis for a full year.

"Aw man," Lucas sighed. "I lost my two aces and a king!" He gazed up at the sky, raising his fist in a threatening manner. "I hate you, Lucas Fate Gods!"

Izzy stared at him and blinked. Then, he opened his mouth to say something when the phone interrupted further conversation. On the second ring, his mother answered it. A moment later, she poked her head into Izzy's room.

"Izzy, it's your friend Ken. He says he needs to talk to you, and it's an emergency," Mrs. Izumi told her son.

"I'll take it in here, Mom. Thanks," Izzy said, reaching for the cordless in his room. Hitting the talk button, he greeted, "Hey, Ken! What's the big emergency?…You want me to go to Tamachi. Ken, Davis didn't dare you to pull some kind of prank on me, did he?…Good. I'm still kinda annoyed with the last one. What's going on?…I have to see it to believe it. Right." Izzy sighed. "Okay, I bite. I'll have to ask my parents for some money for the train – "

Lucas cheerily chimed in loudly enough for Ken to hear it and to nearly destroy Izzy's eardrums, "I can drive!"

" – Or Lucas can drive," Izzy added, rubbing one of his ears in pain. "Who's Lucas? I'll explain later…I'll be over there ASAP. By the way, is it raining in Tamachi? I keep hearing rain from your end…All right! All right! I'll be there in twenty minutes! See ya!"

Lucas leaned forward. He asked, eyes sparkling, "Can we take the Camry?"

"I'll ask, but I think the answer's gonna be no."

~*~

"Why'd we get stuck with the crappy car?"

"Because my parents don't trust you with the Camry?" Izzy suggested.

"I'm a good driver!" Lucas protested. The person in front of them slammed on his brakes. "YAAAAAAAAH!"

Lucas slammed on his brakes in order to avoid creating a third seat in the trunk of the car ahead of them.

After some jostling around during the hasty stop, Izzy asked calmly, "You were saying?"

"Shut up. So where is this place anyway?"

"Across the river in Tamachi."

"…Okay! Give me a big, broad target to hit, and I can find anything!" Lucas said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"First we'll get to Tamachi and then I'll give you directions."

"Well, that's like saying, 'Well, the shop is somewhere in New York City, but I'll tell you when we get there!' Like finding an eyelash in a haystack. A big, freaking _huge_ haystack!" Lucas growled.

"All right! All right! Touchy!"

A brief beat of silence passed followed by the sound of a speeding car.

"Some of these drivers are crazier than the ones in New York City! YAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

~*~

The redhead in the car was more than happy when they arrived in front of the apartment in one piece.

"So what exactly is going on around here?" the older teen asked.

"I dunno. Ken didn't tell me. He just said that I had to see it to believe it."

"Oy vey."

Izzy knocked on the Ichijouji apartment door. He thought he heard the sound of…rain?…coming from inside the apartment.

"Is it raining in there or is it just my imagination?" Lucas wondered aloud.

"I have no clue."

Ken answered the door, dripping wet. The two drier teenagers blinked in amazement.

"Is that some kind of Japanese custom to take a bath with your clothes on?" Lucas asked before he received Izzy's elbow in his stomach. "Ow! Just kidding!"

"Not quite," Ken replied. "C'mon inside."

As they stepped inside, they were met with water pouring from all over the place. Within seconds, the two newcomers were soaked to the bone.

Lucas blinked. "Uh…dude."

The redhead turned to Ken. "Are your pipes broken?"

"No…That was one of the things I thought of before. I even called the lady upstairs to see if she'd left her water running, but she said no. Besides, it's just this room that's getting soaked."

As Lucas began to wander the living room of the apartment, Izzy asked Ken, "You're sure it's just this room?"

"No, I'm not sure," Ken answered sarcastically. He paused, calmly taking a deep breath, then shouted, "It's raining out of my _floor!_ And it's not just my floor either! It's the walls _and_ the ceiling! Would you care to explain?!"

Even as Ken said this, a small jet of water flew between them from one wall to the other. Both teenagers followed it with their gaze. Then returned to look at each other, blinking in amazement.

Izzy wiped a little water off of his brow…that was instantaneously replaced by more water. "Okay, I admit. That's a little…hard to explain."

"Hard? Try _impossible!"_

As the pair continued to argue, Lucas found Seiji sitting in an upholstered chair. He poked the soccer player. "Are you still alive, man?" When Seiji did not move, Lucas hmphed. "He looks stoned out of his gourd." Lucas' pale, ice blue eyes lit up. "Paranormal activity…Man, I wish I had my tome! This calls for…my crucifix!" He whipped out the crucifix that hung around his neck for just such an emergency. He started to place the crucifix in Seiji's hand, saying, "Here! Hold this for a second! I have to find my portable pocket tome!"

The second the crucifix touched Seiji's hand, the soccer player yelped in pain, dropping it to the floor. Smoke curled upwards from a new burn on his hand. He shouted in protest, "You idiot! That burns!"

The older teen blinked and slowly picked up his crucifix. It was still warm in his hand.

Ken and Izzy were forcefully jerked out of their argument when Lucas' voice rang out, "Satan's spawn! Satan's spawn! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The redhead ran over to him. "Lucas, calm down."

"No!" Lucas shouted. "The crucifix burned him! He's…he's…_evil!"_ He whipped out his pocket tome. "I have to figure out what it is!"

Izzy sweatdropped and nearly fell over. "Lucas, the crucifix couldn't have burned Seiji."

Lucas stopped flipping through the tome and glared at Izzy. "I'll prove it." He slid the crucifix over Seiji's head and around Seiji's neck. He leaned forward in anticipation.

No sooner had the crucifix touched the skin of Seiji's neck than Seiji let out an agonizing cry. He grabbed at the chain, carefully avoiding the cross itself, and held it away from his skin.

"See?! See?! **_See?!_** What did I tell you?! Who's da man?! Who's da man?! Who's your daddy?! I'm your daddy! I own you, you sons of a silly person! I'm on top of this! It's all comin' together!" Lucas shouted in English.

Every Japanese-speaking person in the near vicinity stared at him. Izzy slapped a hand to his forehead.

"What?" the American asked.

"Speak Japanese," Izzy stated.

"Oh. Riiiggghhhtttt…." nodded Lucas, stupidly. He quickly returned to flipping through the well-worn pages of his pocket tome, searching for answers. 

"Won't your precious tome get wet, Lucas?" 

"Why no, silly! I've had this baby water-proofed for years now!"

Izzy yet again smacked his forehead in utter disbelief. He then turned his attention back to the pale Ken, who now looked as if he had just licked a car battery. 

"Are you alright?" Izzy asked, concerned for his younger friend's sanity. 

"…Yeah…" replied a small voice.

Both teens focused their attention on the whimpering Seiji, who was holding a tissue against his neck.

"Could you get this…this _thing_ off me?" growled the wounded Seiji, still holding Lucas's crucifix away from his skin. Disposing of a now reddened tissue he grabbed for another, revealing scratch marks that had appeared on his neck.

Izzy gulped, "How…how'd you hurt your neck, Seiji?"

A cold, lifeless stare was the young teen's only answer.

Ken slowly backed away from his fellow teammate, muttering, "This is…so weird…This can't be happening…"

Seiji lost his patience with the dumbfounded pair of geniuses that stood before him.

__

Ker-pop! The chain that had held the crucifix around his neck snapped as Seiji viciously yanked it away from himself. It landed by the feet of its original owner, causing Lucas to look up from his studies.

"Hey, man. That's an expensive chain!" 

"Now…it's a broken one." 

Lucas calmly put the tome back into one of the cargo pockets of his pants and sighed. Then he lunged at Seiji, both Izzy and Ken had to keep him from doing the soccer player any bodily harm.

****

"You…You jerk!!! Leggo of me, Izzy! I won't hurt him…_much_. Let. Me. Go. _NOW_."

"No way, Lucas…" said Izzy, shaking his head in dismay at his friend's outburst. "Just calm down, ok? Take deep breaths and everything will be ok…Don't worry."

Ken just looked at Seiji, wanting to disbelieve everything he just saw. But Seiji's hollow eyes stared right back at him. Now Ken really knew that there was something wrong – something _terribly_ wrong – with his teammate and he wanted to know why and how Seiji was doing this.

"What's a matter, Ken?" Seiji's unnaturally cool voice pierced the silence between the two soccer players.

Ken jerked in surprise. "How are you doing this, Seiji? How?" Ken asked, his voice pleading.

"It's not me that's doing this, Ken."

"…Then…who?"

"_He's_ doing this…and _he_ just won't leave me alone!"

~*~

All the soccer players, including Seiji, quickly vacated the party, and they all left before the police arrived. The police, apparently, wouldn't even touch the case and left quickly afterwards. Soon the Ichijoujis, Izzy, and Lucas were the only ones left in the apartment. It was past 10:30 and Izzy's concerned parents had just called, moments before, to make sure that the pair was all right. Now Izzy and Lucas stood in Ken's bedroom.

Lucas glanced around noting – much to his dismay – the apparent lack of decorating skills of the 13 year-old. Seeing no particular object to focus his attention to, the oldest teen in the group twiddled with the broken chain idly.

The redhead poked him in the ribs. "What _are_ you doing?"

"Eh? Don't poke me, twerp."

"Don't call me a twerp!" 

"Don't poke me in the side!"

"Fine! I guess we're even then!"

A now dry Ken returned from the bathroom wearing a new change of clothes. He looked the clock and then to his friends. "Well, it's getting late…"

"It is, isn't it, Captain Obvious?" smirked the foreign exchange student, who received a jab in the arm from Izzy.

"Ignore him, Ken," Izzy stated as Lucas pretended to be offended by the remark. "Are you going to be ok?"

"Oh yeah, just as long as I never invite Seiji to another party again, I'll be fine!" chuckled Ken. Suddenly, the soccer star found his hand being shaken by Lucas's hand.

"I don't believe that we were ever properly introduced. Izzy was _so_ rude and completely forgot to introduce me! I'm Wolenczak Lucas. I'm a foreign exchange student from New York and you are?"

"Ichijouji Ken. Nice to meet you." Ken said nervously, fearing that the over-exuberant exchange student was close to shaking his arm off.

Izzy patted Lucas's arm. "Ok, take the death grip off of Ken's hand, grasshopper."

"Right, Yoda." Lucas dropped Ken hand who was grateful to have it back.

Ken just laughed, a nervous laugh at first due to all of the earlier commotion, but it soon turned into a good humored laugh that the others joined in on.

After a few minutes, Lucas was the first one to pipe up, "What…are…we…laughing about?"

"_Grasshopper? Yoda…? _I don't know why that's so funny to me!" whooped Ken between fits of laughter.

"Maybe it's because Izzy is just the right size to _be_ Yoda," remarked Lucas. Izzy jabbed his ribs once again. Lucas jumped and whirled on his smaller companion, holding up his hands to fend off any future rib-attacks. "Nnnoooo touchy! No touch. No touchy!"

"…Right…" the redhead said, shaking his head. "Okay, grasshopper, if you know so much about this weird stuff going on, what's the next step?"

"I say we exorcise that chain-breaking son of a – !"

**__**

"Lucas!"

"Sorry…" the older teen apologized, pretending to be dejected. He lightly smacked himself on the cheek and, smiling, stated, "Bad Lucas."

"All right. So we call an exorcist – " Ken began.

"That would be a Catholic priest," Lucas interrupted. He paused for a minute. "Do you guys even _have_ Catholic churches over here?"

"I wasn't talking about Catholic priests!" the Tamachi soccer player snapped. "I was talking about Shinto priests!"

Lucas raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and stated, "Same dif."

The two Japanese teenagers both sighed. The American teenager smiled smugly.

"Okay, we call a exorcist, and since this is Japan…" Izzy began, glaring at Lucas, "…we'll call a _Shinto_ priest."

"Fat lot of good an exorcist is going to do for us if Seiji doesn't agree to this," Ken stated.

Lucas slammed a fist into his other hand. "I could punch him _until_ he agrees to do it!"

"Gee. Let's think about that for a second. No."

"Aw…That takes all the fun out of it." Lucas' demeanor turned shockingly serious in an instant. "Did Seiji say anything about how he was doing all that crazy water magic or why he was doing it?"

"Uh…Let's see…He said he wasn't doing it, but somebody else was. And that somebody else wouldn't leave him alone."

"Hmph." The oldest teen whipped out his tome once again.

"Find anything useful in that book?" Izzy sarcastically asked.

Silence from Lucas until… **"A-_ha!"_** Lucas shouted, thoroughly scaring both Ken and Izzy out of six years' growth.

"'A-ha' what?" Ken asked, placing a hand over his wildly beating heart.

"A-hmm…Ah, yes. Here it is."

"Here what is?" Izzy inquired, growing annoyed at the American.

"Would you stop interrupting me?!"

"Sorry," both Japanese teenagers apologized.

"As I was saying, he shows typical signs of possession. He's being possessed by…hmph…perhaps by someone he knew. Did someone in his family die recently?"

"Yes!" the youngest teen answered. "He was almost late to the soccer game today because he had to go to his grandfather's funeral."

"Interesting…This requires further research!" Lucas snapped the tiny tome closed. He turned to his housemate. "We have to get home!"

Ken sweatdropped as Izzy sighed, but both them knew that there was no arguing with the older teen.

"Well, good night, Ken," the redhead stated.

"See you two tomorrow," the blue-haired teen said, leading them out of his apartment.

The American was too busy babbling to himself to hear their farewells to one another and jerked Izzy off to the car to go back to the Izumi apartment and sleep.

~*~

"Izzy…Izzy…" a voice called from somewhere outside the redhead's dreamland.

The Japanese teen rolled over, mumbling something unintelligible.

****

"Izzy!" the voice shouted suddenly, annoyed.

**__**

"YAAAAH!!!" was soon followed by a pronounced _thud._

Izzy landed on the ground, gasping for breath and trying to slow his heart rate to something at least _close_ to normal. He glared up at the smirking Lucas with his coal black eyes. In a surprisingly calm voice, Izzy stated, "If you had asked Tentomon, you would've known that I do not particularly appreciate such _rude_ awakenings."

"Cry me a river, baby. Should I call the Waaambulance?" the American mocked.

"What time is it?" the redhead demanded.

"Time for you to get a watch."

Izzy glanced at the digital clock on his desk. The time read as "5:30 AM". He raised an eyebrow at Lucas. "Any particular reason that you're waking me up early?"

"Um…Actually, yes."

"I'd _love_ to hear it."

"I need to talk to Ken about what's-his-name's problem."

"The kid's name is 'Seiji'."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"If I leave him an e-mail, would that be satisfactory?"

"No! I have to talk to him _now!_ This is important!"

"Then will you tell me what's going on?!"

"Okay, by studying star charts and such this morning before I woke you up, I have determined that he has been possessed by his grandfather with 99% accuracy."

The Izumi teenager merely stared. "You woke me up _this early_ to tell me _that?!"_

"Uh huh!" Lucas cheerfully stated, grinning from ear to ear.

Grabbing the largest star chart book in reach, Izzy threw it at the exchange student's head, shouting, **"Go back to sleep!"**

Lucas toppled over. "No…touchy…"

The room fell silent once more.

~*~

The afternoon of that same day (when Izzy was in a more benevolent mood), Lucas called Ken up and began to explain what his star charts had told him.

The Ichijouji teenager had listened to every word. At first, he admitted to the American that he was indeed skeptical of such mysticism, but after seeing the events of the day before, he was ready to believe practically anything. If Lucas had announced to the blue-haired teen that he was indeed God, Ken would have almost believed it. _Almost_.

"Okay, so you think that his grandfather is possessing him?" Ken asked, waving off his mother who was throwing him disbelieving looks.

"Just ask him about his grandfather at soccer practice," Lucas ordered the blue-haired teen excitedly. "If I'm right – and I _know_ I am since I am the Almighty, Omnipotent…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ken stated, cutting the caller off in the middle of his self-praise. "I'll ask him about it." He glanced at the clock. "Listen, Lucas. I've gotta hang up. If I don't get changed and get to the soccer field in fifteen minutes, Coach'll have my head."

"And we like your head just where it is with that girly haircut!" Lucas sneered.

"I like my haircut, thank you! And it is _not_ girly!"

"You shoulda heard what Izzy said that his friend TK said a while ago."

"What was that?"

"TK said that your haircut made you look like Kari, Tai's little sister."

Ken stared at the phone, annoyed. "I'll kill them both. I gotta go now, Lucas."

"Okay! Call if anything weird happens!"

"Right, right. I'll have my cell phone. Bye!"

"Bye!"

__

Click!

As Ken walked into his room to change into his Tamachi soccer uniform, he glanced at the Black Digivice that belonged to him. It was unique because of its color and because it was the first D3 ever.

He sighed. If something happened at the soccer field, he really wanted to have Stingmon with him but realized that not only would that be overkill, but it would also mean putting a Digimon versus a human. Of course, the outcome would always be Digimon in that fight.

Picking up his duffel bag, he quickly checked to see if his cell phone was stowed inside. As an after thought, he tossed in his D-terminal – a portable e-mailing system – in as well.

Bidding his partner Digimon goodbye, Ken walked to the soccer field.

~*~

__

"Now I understand why you woke me up like that," Izzy muttered after Lucas finished making his phone call.

Lucas rubbed the bruise where the book had hit him in the head. "Remind me to never do that again."

"I'm a creature of habit. Interrupt my habits, and there'll be consequences."

"Spoken like a _real_ human." He paused, mock gasping in surprise. "And a real human is not what I expected you to be!"

The redhead shot the American a withering glare. Lucas, as if to spite him, merely grinned at him.

Silently fuming, Izzy asked, "What next, Oh Great One? Do we ask an Ouiji board?"

The older teenager paused, ice blue eyes lighting up. "Great idea! Do you have one?!"

"Yeah, it's in the hall clos – Hey, wait a second! I was being sarcastic!"

Lucas froze just as he reached the door. He sadly turned around and asked, "You _don't_ have an Ouiji board?"

"No…we have one. I was being sarcastic about asking an Ouiji board for help."

"Well, I'm being serious! I shall return!" Dramatically, Lucas threw open Izzy's bedroom door and stepped into the hallway as Izzy began to seriously consider beating his head against a wall.

~*~

Ken noticed the way Seiji did not seem to be responding to any of his teammates. After dressing out in his soccer uniform, he had sat down on a bench in the locker room while staring blankly ahead. The team captain glanced at his team who urged him to snap Seiji out of it.

The Ichijouji teen leaned forward and asked, "Seiji, you okay?"

Seiji gazed into his captain's blue eyes. "He's here."

Those same blue eyes blinked. "What?"

"He's here. He's going to hurt me again."

By this time, the rest of the team was slowly making their way out of the locker room. Each of them could feel that something was about to happen.

Seiji sat rigidly still, not moving a muscle.

__

Plip!

A drop of water landed on the top of Ken's head.

__

Plip…plip-plip-plip!

As the seconds passed, more rain began to fall.

However, there was more than just rain this time.

Right before Ken's eyes, Seiji was lifted from the bench by some unseen force. Ken gave a cry of surprise while Seiji gave a cry of pain as he was thrown bodily into the lockers.

The Tamachi team captain stared for another few seconds before dashing to his duffel bag. He immediately grabbed the first device he could lay his hands on: the D-terminal. With well-practiced hands, Ken typed out a message and sent it on its way.

That done, he whipped out his cell phone to call the nearest Shinto shrine.

~*~

Izzy heard a familiar tone signaling he had mail. He pulled out his D-terminal as Lucas began to set up the Ouiji board.

"Lucas, forget the Ouiji board! We're needed in Tamachi!" he told the older teen.

The American blinked and stared. In an almost whiny voice he asked, "Why?"

"Read this!"

Lucas found the screen of the D-terminal shoved in front of his vision. On the screen was a hastily typed – and slightly misspelled with some bad grammar – message. Obviously, the message had been typed in a great hurry and sent on its way before it had been double-checked.

"Izzy! Lucus! Ritin as fast as I can! Rain in Tamachi socker field's locker roooms! Get over here quik! Seiji's hurt! Tossed into lockers by invisible force! Callin Shinto preest now! – Ken."

"'Lucus'?" Lucas asked, disgusted. "He spelled _your_ name right, but he misspelled _mine!"_

"It could be worse," Izzy stated, grabbing Lucas' arm and leading him quickly towards the door. "He could've replaced the 'u' with an 'o', changed the 'a' to a 'u', and accidentally added a 't' to the end of your name."

"How could _that_ be worse?"

"Then you'd be 'Locust'."

"The horror…"

~*~

A half-hour later, the Shinto priest had finished his work. The rain had finally stopped, and it appeared that everything would be fine. Everything returned to normal afterwards.

This return normalcy would not last.

About three weeks later, Seiji had that look about him once more as he sat in the locker room of the Tamachi team.

Ken stepped up to him, concerned. "Seiji, you okay?"

"I can do something you can't."

The blue-haired teen blinked as he stared at his teammate. "What?"

"I can make it rain."

The Tamachi team captain gaped. "Show me."

Seiji held up his left hand, his forefinger and middle finger close together. His ring finger and pinky finger were curled downward, forming half a fist. His thumb began to rub against his forefinger and middle finger.

Within moments, the rain had returned. Instead of starting with a simple _plip_, it began in its usual torrent.

"Seiji, stop!" Ken ordered.

His teammate merely smirked. "You're just scared because I can do it and you can't."

"Not really…"

A strange odor filled the room. It was not earthy nor wet nor spicy nor anything _else_ Ken could think of. Within moments, Ken realized that this smell could not be of this world.

"Seiji, stay here. I'll be back in a moment," the star athlete ordered calmly.

"I'm not going anywhere."

The Ichijouji teen calmly walked into the coach's office and began dialing on the telephone. He waited patiently as the phone on the other end began to ring.

~*~

Izzy picked up the ringing phone, hitting the talk button. "Izumi residence."

****

"Izzy, it's happening again!" Ken screeched into the phone, losing his earlier calm.

The redhead jerked the phone away from his ear. "Ken…?"

"I'm in my team's locker room. The rain's come back! Only this time, Seiji can _control_ it! Not only that, but there's this _really_ weird smell in here!"

By now Izzy had switched to the speakerphone, allowing Lucas to hear the conversation as well.

The American raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. "I guess the Shinto priest could only pull off a temporary fix." Lucas grinned. "Don't worry! I know what to do! We'll be over there before you drown!" That said, Lucas ended the phone conversation.

Izzy watched as his housemate ran out of the room into the American's own room. The redhead followed cautiously to see the older teen digging through his things for something the Japanese teenager could only guess at.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" the redhead asked.

"I'm looking for my…**Eureka!"** The American held up a rather large canteen. "My holy water from Jerusalem!"

The Japanese teenager almost fell over in disbelief. "You _can't_ be serious!"

"Let's go, Izzy!"

~*~

"Do you even _know_ how to do this?" Ken asked as he led Lucas and Izzy into the locker room.

"Not a clue!" the American cheerfully told the two Japanese teens. "But I've seen it done on TV!"

The redheaded teen and the blue-haired teen exchanged long-suffering looks. Simultaneously they said, "We're doomed."

"All I've gotta do is sprinkle this holy water and pray and…**What the heck is that _smell?!"_**

The Ichijouji teenager sighed. _"That_ would be the smell I told you two about."

"It's _nasty!_ The Devil's gotta be here…" Lucas looked around suspiciously as if Satan would leap out of the shadows and try to swallow his soul.

"Can the melodrama," the Izumi teenager snapped, "and get to work, Lucas!"

"Oh. Riiiiightttt…"

Upon reaching the possessed soccer player, the American set to work sprinkling holy water and praying with Seiji. Ken and Izzy stood nearby and merely watched, knowing when to just step out of the way. Lucas sprinkled the holy water and prayed with Seiji even after the rain had stopped and the smell had faded away.

"I think that's enough, Lucas," the redheaded Japanese teenager told him.

"I know, I know already! Jeez! Lay off…I just wanted to be sure." Lucas turned to Seiji once more. "You're gonna be okay. Just don't let any other abusive relatives come back and possess you!"

The three Japanese teenagers sweatdropped as Seiji stated, "I'll remember to keep that in mind…"

~*~

Weeks passed, and things truly _had_ returned to normal for Seiji. The spirit of his abusive grandfather tormented him no more. He also could no longer create rain on his own.

However, things would never be the same for Izzy, Ken, and Lucas. The incident with the "Rainmaker" was only the beginning. After this bizarre incident, they began noticing more and more of these paranormal occurrences. As time went on, they would be called upon to investigate these occurrences over and over.

But these incidents are entirely different stories that will be revealed in time.


	3. Case #2: Let Sleeping Sailors Lie

Flip City

Flip City

By Cybra and spam

****

Cybra's A/N: You like us! You really like us! Well, here's Case #2 for you all! spam saw it on Real Scary Stories.

****

Disclaimer: Digimon is not ours. Lucas belongs to spam. **_Cybra_** came up with the idea for this story! P spam!

Case #2: Let Sleeping Sailors Lie

"Better beware of _me,_ Lucas! I'm a _warlock!_ Ooh!" mocked the senior before him.

Lucas Wolenczak cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Lucas' fellow senior slammed him against the locker. "Don't get smart with me!"

The American curled his fingers into a fist and delivered a punch to Fuma Iko's jaw. "What the hell was that for?!"

A teacher walking by yanked Fuma away from Lucas. "Knock it off, you two! Or you'll be spending your afternoon in detention!"

Lucas merely shrugged and walked away with Fuma fuming behind him. The American strolled casually into his first block class, hoping the rest of the day would turn out to be uneventful.

Lunchtime would prove him wrong (and leave him cursing the Lucas Fate Gods). Fuma and his group of friends deliberately sat down at the table next to Lucas and his friend and partner in crime Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi.

"Oh Mighty Math Guru, learn me the ways of calculus!" Lucas begged, bowing before the sophomore.

"'Learn' you? I think I better teach you grammar on top of that," Izzy responded, eyes twinkling.

"Hey," Lucas protested, indignant, "I said that on purpose!"

__

"Sure ya did."

Lucas reached into his navy blue side pack, pulling out a large stack of books and folders. . His friend waiting patiently as he sorted through the disheveled collection of school supplies. As he was searching for his calculus book and homework (that was due next block) his tome – a large, battered leather-bound book – fell to the floor at the feet of Fuma.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Fuma asked himself loudly, picking up the tome. "A spell book? A book to ward off evil spirits?" He paused and added sarcastically, "Because we all _know_ that evil spirits constantly lurk the halls of our school."

Fuma's friends laughed both at Fuma's comment and Lucas' scowling expression.

One of the other seniors asked teasingly, "Have you called the Psychic Friends Hotline lately?"

"I bet they give him a discount since he calls so often," another jeered.

"Do you have any tarot cards in there?" one laughed.

"Got a crucifix in there as well?" Fuma mocked. "Maybe you should add in garlic and a stake as well. You never know, one of our teachers could be a vampire!"

Lucas seethed and almost growled, "Give me back my tome."

The senior holding the tome asked, "You want your tome back? Come and get it."

"He's baiting you, Lucas," the redheaded sophomore warned. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Okay!" Lucas cheerfully answered back, walking towards Fuma to retrieve the old book.

Fuma held the large book aloft so even the tall American couldn't reach it. "Why don't you use a spell to get it down?"

The American had just the right spell in mind. Before Fuma could react, he punched the Japanese teenager in the nose so hard that it resulted in a strange _pop._ Fuma pulled away, dropping the tome to the floor and holding his now broken nose.

"Lucas, I thought I told you not to do anything I wouldn't do!" Izzy exclaimed, eyes already scanning the room for teachers.

"Wouldn't _you_ punch him in the face if he had something of _yours?"_

A beat of silence.

"That's beside the point!"

That was all the time Fuma's friends needed to rise to their feet. Izzy gulped, already knowing what was going to happen.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, unconcerned. "Japanese guys hit like girls anyway."

The first punch that connected with the American's right cheek convinced him otherwise. Lucas' left eyebrow twitched before he socked his assailant in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to his knees.

Izzy decided it would not be wise for hi to remain. He held no desire to have bruises and/or a detention. Being smaller, Izzy easily slipped between the combatants, grabbed Lucas' precious tome, and sprinted away just before the principal arrived.

Returning home with a busted lip, a bruised ego, and two hours later than normal, Lucas plopped down in the nearest chair available.

"Curse the Lucas Fate Gods!" he muttered.

As upset as Lucas was over the fight and his inability to win the fight, he was more upset over the apparent loss of his battered tome.

"Lucas, is that you?" a familiar voice called from the redhead's bedroom.

"Nope. It's Al Capone, back from the dead, see?" Lucas replied grumpily, imitating a gangster's voice.

Hands behind his back, Izzy walked over to the sulking American. "Har har. Nice lip, Lucas."

"Yeah, so? At least I didn't chicken out and run away."

"I'm the one that didn't have a detention!"

Both teens stuck their tongues out at each other.

Then the younger teen laughed. "You'll never believe what I have!"

The blonde American looked up at his younger counterpart. "Is it mineral, animal, or vegetable?"

"Mineral – I guess."

"Tastes bad?"

"I supposed."

"Smells funny?"

"Kind of…"

"Looks weird?"

"Ye – "

"I know! **Spam!"** the American exclaimed proudly.

The Japanese teen nearly fell over. "No, **no!"**

"Then what could it be otherwise?"

Producing a large, battered book from behind his back, Izzy handed it to the surprised American. "You're welcome."

"Thank you!" was the happy reply.

The redhead smiled and received a pillow in his face. "What was that for?!"

Lucas shrugged and tried to look innocent. "I don't know. Somebody's throwing things! It wasn't me! Don't you have homework or something?"

"Mine's finished. _Yours_ on the other hand…"

Lucas paused, carefully considering his answer. "Homework is for homeroom."

"Uh huh. Forgot it, huh?"

"No!" Lucas indignantly shouted. "I just don't understand it…as usual."

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Need help?"

"I have an interesting proposition for you," the American stated suddenly, terminating the previous conversation.

The Japanese teenager blinked at the sudden change in topic. "What _kind_ of proposition?" he warily asked.

"I was, uh, wondering if you would, uh, join me on a ghost hunting trip."

Slowly, Izzy raised the other eyebrow. "Why…?"

"Well, um, that's an interesting story in itself…so I'll tell you."

"Oh, yes. Do tell."

"Well, it's kinda on a dare…Those unbelievers want some proof, and I plan to give it to them."

"So what's the dare?"

"Well you know the _Yakatori_, the – "

"Supposedly haunted boat?"

The American exchange student gave Izzy a powerful death glare and punched him in the arm. "Well, I _would_ get to the point, but you keep interrupting me." Before Izzy could say anything to that haughty statement, Lucas continued, "Anywho, I thought, uh, we could take over video cameras and stuff and spend the night."

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What's this 'we' stuff I'm hearing?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that little detail."

Glaring at Lucas, Izzy asked, "I'm going, aren't I?"

"Whether you like it or not!" the American told him.

"I'm calling Ken."

That weekend, three teenagers stood in front of the old navy vessel left over from World War II. Spots of rust decorated the hull of the _Yakatori_. Moans and creaks emitted from the bowels of the ship as she rocked slowly back and forth in the waves. The sun slowly slipped below the horizon. A light breeze wiped its cold fingers across the back of the teens' necks.

"Creeeepy," Ken Ichijouji stated, breaking the silence.

Lucas grinned up at the boat. "Dude, this is gonna be awesome! Twelve hours with this ship all to ourselves! Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty!"

Ken gave Izzy an amused expression. "Someone's having a good time."

"Like a kid at Christmas," came the grumbled reply.

The blue-haired teenager gave his friend an encouraging smile. It was obvious the redhead did not want to be there.

"What am I doing here again?" Ken asked.

"Because _I_ have to come. And, Lucas, why _did_ I have to come?"

"I'm older than you. There is…no…other…explanation," Lucas stated, slowing down near the end of his sentence. "Anyway, let's go!"

"Uh uh." The redhead grabbed the American's collar.

"Choking. Choking," Lucas croaked.

"I want a _real_ explanation."

"You can turn back now, but I'll call you a chicken and a wuss for the rest of your life."

"No. I want an explanation. That's all."

"Because three people means more cameras and more proof!" was the hurried explanation.

"I don't think so."

"Are you just gonna stand here and complain all night or are you coming inside?"

"You got me into this to begin with. Didn't you?" Izzy calmly inquired.

Lucas gave his most charming smile. "Okay! Let's go!"

The redheaded Japanese teen released the American's collar, saying in a matter-of-fact voice, "I hate you."

Ken lay awake on his bunk at the ungodly hour of 10:47 at night. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering how many sailors had slept in that same bunk and how many of those had been killed.

Pushing these morbid thoughts aside, he attempted to peer through the darkness. He and his companions had checked the ship an hour ago with no incidents. After that, they had turned in for the night.

"Is anybody else awake?" Ken asked, breaking into the sounds of the ship rocking back and forth in the tide.

"Am I ever asleep?" came the voice of Lucas, answering the question with one of his own.

The third member of the group replied irritably, "No. I'm asleep. That's why I'm talking to you!"

Ken merely rolled his eyes in the dark. "Since we're all awake, I suggest we check the ship again."

__

"I suggest," Izzy sarcastically began, "that we just use the Ouija board Lucas brought."

"What? You too lazy to walk around the ship again?" Lucas inquired. A pause. "And no, I didn't bring it."

"My error."

"You're in a _real_ fantastic mood today, Izzy," the youngest of the three noted. "I thought you were a night owl."

"I am, but this time it's not by choice. How can you be so…so…"

"Gullible?" Lucas supplied. He "helpfully" added more adjectives. "Naïve? Stupid? Ugly? Sissy?"

"I am not a sissy!" Ken protested.

"So everything else is true?"

****

"You woke me up to fight?!" Izzy roared angrily. "We might as well get up and search the stupid ship! Lucas, take one camera and check the bow of the ship! Ken, you and I will take the other one and check the aft part of the ship! Maybe _then_ we can get some sleep!"

Ken and Lucas froze, staring at their angered friend. As one they saluted and shouted, "Yes, sir!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this done so we can get back to sleep!"

Ken and Izzy methodically walked the halls of the _Yakatori_. At the moment, Ken was carrying the video camera. The machine's weight was becoming quite uncomfortable on his shoulder.

"Next stop: the infirmary," Izzy reported, opening another of the heavy metal doors.

Ken shivered as he entered the room. "It's _freezing_ in here!"

The redhead rubbed his upper arms with his hands. "Must be a draft somewhere."

"Whatever. Well, it looks like nothing's – "

"The wall! Point the camera towards the wall!" Izzy yelled, flailing his arms energetically.

Hastily, the blue-haired teen did so. There on the wall were several points of light not from any light source he could discern. The lights had not been there a moment ago.

"If I'm right," the younger teen began, "that's Lucas' proof."

Izzy's midnight black eyes slowly examined the room. None of the old lights had been switched on. The only two lights that could possibly cause it were the red light on the camera – only the lights on the wall weren't red, so the camera light was ruled out – and the light from his flashlight.

"I'm going to turn off the flashlight. It might be reflecting off of something."

With a _click_, the flashlight was switched off.

The lights on the wall were still there.

"Okay…That's _almost_ the freakiest thing I ever saw…" the redhead muttered.

"What about the thing with Seiji?"

"I said 'almost'."

"Oh." Ken paused, still looking at the lights nervously. "Can we go now? We have some proof for Lucas, and this place gives me the creeps."

"Sure." Izzy clicked on the flashlight once more. "I'm gonna give you the flashlight, and you give me the camera."

"That's good. It's _killing_ my shoulder!"

About a moment later, the two teens had reentered the hallway. Before Izzy could even turn around to do so, the door slammed shut by itself.

If Ken's eyes opened any wider, his eyeballs would've popped out of his head. He closed his eyes and opened them so that they looked normal.

The redheaded teen pointed the camera at his friend. "This ever happen to you before?"

The blue-haired teen shook his head slowly.

"Huh. First time?"

A nod from the redhead's companion. "Neither you nor I slammed that door shut. And before you even suggest it, I _don't_ think the wind did it either. First off, there's no breeze in here. Second, that door is _way_ too heavy for that kind of thing."

"Okay. Barometric pressure or something closed the door. Satisfied?"

A pause.

"You're not a skeptic, Izzy. You're in denial."

"Whatever. Let's just go find Lucas, okay?"

Ken gave an affirmative nod before leading the way back to the bunk.

Even though Izzy found it hard to admit it, he found it difficult to explain the lights and the door so that it was logical and reasonable enough for he himself to believe it. Perhaps it was time for him to take Lucas' obsession far more seriously.

"12 o'clock, and all is well!"

The statement bounced off the steel walls in the empty hallway in the bow of the ship. Hollow echoes amplified the volume of the speaker's voice.

"This is boring." Lucas hmph'd with disappointment.

The American had seen and heard nothing out of place for the last hour and thirteen minutes. There had been no ghostly figures, no lights, no slamming of doors, _nothing_ that was typical of sightings seen by workers on the ship.

Instead of methodically searching like his two younger counterparts, Lucas meandered about the bow of the ship. Often times he would return to places he had already searched.

After twenty minutes or so, he reached a crossroads in the halls and stopped.

"Man, this bites," he muttered bitterly. "All of the workers see something and I see jack diddly. I better just get back to bed."

Even as he said this, he felt what seemed like a hand pushing him forward, causing him to topple and drop the camera.

****

"Holy shit!"

Lucas picked up his small, handheld camera and turned around. He quickly turned into a hallway, passed over a spot, and froze.

"I'm getting a decidedly creepy, angry feeling around here…"

The American panned the camera over the area and stooped down to the floor. Slowly and cautiously, he reached towards the floor and touched the cold steel beneath him.

Suddenly, he recoiled from the spot on the floor.

"Somebody died here…" He gulped. "That settles it! I'm going back to the bunk! This is more creepy than I can handle!"

Quickly, Lucas turned and rocketed back to the bunks.

The two younger teenagers sat discussing their experience at the same time that Lucas had been pushed to the floor by that strange unseen force. Obviously, neither teen was aware of their older friend's experience.

"So _now_ you admit that this stuff might _possibly_ be real?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow.

The redhead shifted from foot to foot. "I admit that these…occurrences…are hard to explain by…conventional means. At the moment, Lucas' theory is the most least likely yet logical answer to all of this."

"Lucas? Logic?" Ken inquired incredulously. "Are we talking about the same Lucas here? I'm talking about the one that lives in your apartment with your family now. You know, the foreign exchange student from America."

"Yeah. We _are_ talking about the same Lucas."

Ken put a hand to Izzy's forehead, frowning.

"What are you doing?" the redheaded teenager asked.

"Feeling for the fever. Are you habitually taking drugs or drinking alcohol?"

"No."

"Do you have a history of insanity in your family?"

"Um…" Izzy thought for a moment, vaguely remembering something his mother had told him. "My great-uncle thought he was the reincarnation of Napoleon," he answered helpfully.

A pause.

"I'll take that as a big 'yes'," the blue-haired Japanese teenager stated.

Just then, the bunk room door slammed open, emitting a loud clang that reverberated about the room. The two Japanese teens whirled around to see Lucas standing there, gasping the doorway.

****

"Are you _trying_ ta give us a heart attack?!" Izzy demanded, clutching at his chest as he attempted to slow his wildly beating heart.

The senior took a deep breath. He now gazed calmly at his fellow ghost hunters. "I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm getting all 'funned out'." On the last two words, he made quotation marks with his fingers.

"We saw some 'unexplained phenomenon' – " Ken shout a quick glare at Izzy. " – of the ghostly kind."

"What'd ya see?" Lucas asked, forgetting his earlier fright.

"Lights on the infirmary wall with no obvious source and a large, steel door slamming shut for no apparent reason."

"Dude, I just _have_ to show you my footage!"

At 9:15 the next morning, the trio of ghost hunters gathered in the Izumis' living room, reviewing the footage they had taped the night before.

"Okay, here comes the lights!" the blue-haired teen exclaimed.

The two younger teens leaned forward in anticipation.

__

"Next stop: the infirmary," Izzy reported, opening another of the heavy metal doors.

The camera shot quivered as Ken entered the room. "It's **freezing** in here!"

The redhead rubbed his upper arms with his hands. "Must be a draft somewhere."

"Whatever. Well, it looks like nothing's – "

"The wall! Point the camera towards the wall!" Izzy yelled, flailing his arms energetically.

Hastily, the camera's view swung from its view of Izzy waving his arms like a madman and pointed towards the wall.

"Pff. What lights?" Lucas asked.

"I – I swear I got them!" Ken sputtered.

The camera's view clearly showed the wall, but there was nothing to be seen on the wall. The three teenagers could hear Ken and Izzy's recorded voices exchanging words, but for some bizarre reason, the lights that held their attention could not be seen on the footage.

The redhead merely stared, dumbfounded.

"Hah! Explain _that,_ Einstein! You _can't!_ So there!" Lucas crowed.

"It's not logical…It's just not possible…" Izzy murmured mostly to himself.

Lucas and Ken high-fived each other.

"Okay, Mr. Spock," Lucas taunted, "care to explain?"

"I – the camera must be faulty."

A sudden **_Bang!_** from the tape surprised all present, interrupting the conversation.

"And there's the door slamming," Ken unnecessarily told them.

"Okay, let's pop in my tape," Lucas suggested.

After fifteen minutes of Lucas' travelling – which included him talking to himself, humming popular tunes so far off-key that you could hardly recognize them, and revisiting the same hallways several times – he stopped.

__

"Man, this bites," he muttered bitterly from off-screen. "All of the workers see something and I see jack diddly. I better just get back to bed."

Even as he said this, the view of the camera pitched forward. The camera hit the floor, making the picture fizzle out for a few seconds but the picture quickly returned to normal.

****

"Holy shit!"

"You probably tripped, Lucas," Izzy stated, smirking.

****

"I didn't trip!" the American roared. **"I'm not that clumsy!"**

The redhead ignored that statement. "Okay. So we have lights that didn't show up on the tape even though we shot them and we _know_ we shot them – "

"You shot ghosts?"

"Lucas, don't be irritating."

"Hey!"

"A door slamming shut that shouldn't be able to do so on its own. And Lucas…'being pushed'." The last two words were said with Izzy making quotation marks with his fingers.

"I _was_ pushed! Really!"

Ken interrupted the argument before it could begin. "What's this part, Lucas?"

The image on the screen was of Lucas' hand reaching out and touching the floor.

__

Suddenly, the hand recoiled from the spot on the floor.

"Somebody died here…" Lucas gulped. "That settles it! I'm going back to the bunk! This is more creepy than I can handle!"

Quickly, the camera view turned and rocketed back to the bunks, shaking from side to side as the one holding the camera ran.

The blue-haired teen asked quietly, "How do you know somebody died there?"

"Well, if you had been paying attention to the movie," Lucas began in a haughty tone, "I _did_ say that there was a decidedly creepy feeling there. You figure it out. Duh!"

"uh, Lucas? When most people get creepy feelings, they don't think 'somebody died here'!"

The American simply drew a deep breath and said, "Shut up."

"I guess this is one mystery we won't be able to solve," Ken stated.

"Jinkies," Izzy quipped.

Lucas chuckled and stated, "It definitely won't be the last."

Lucas would later be proved to be correct in saying that the experience on the _Yakatori_ would be the last experience they wouldn't be able to rationally explain away.

Izzy kept the tapes from the adventure on the _Yakatori_. He labeled them and filed them away for future reference and examination. They eventually became part of the immense file of data he and his friends would collect during other adventures. This file would practically become he and his friends' bible when he and Ken compared data in attempts to find patterns.

Their next adventure would lead them to a little town with a highly unusual history.

But that is for another story.


	4. Case #3: Give Me Five Reasons to Believe

Flip City

Flip City

By spam and Cybra

****

Cybra's A/N: Heh, heh, heh. Get ready to be freaked out! I saw this one thing on The Scariest Places on Earth, and we just _had_ to use it! Enjoy!

****

spam's A/N: Still along for the ride eh? Hold on to your bums, it gets freaky from this point on! Also look for Flip City Artwork soon! I'm working on it!

****

Disclaimer: Digimon = not Cybra or spam's. Lucas = spam's. Go sue someone else.

Case #3: Give Me Five Good Reasons to Believe

Saturdays are always the day of the week that people of all ages look forward to. It's that first day of the weekend that you can use to either kick back and relax or get a little extra work done.

Lucas Wolenczak sat in his room (originally, it was the guestroom in the Izumi apartment) as he looked over some new information for his little "hobby". Lucas enjoyed researching about the paranormal. He grinned as he remembered his last two encounters.

At the present moment, he had convinced the famous soccer player and genius Ken Ichijouji that the paranormal _did_ happen. However, there was still one unbeliever left…

"Lucas, shouldn't you be doing your homework so you don't have to rush on Sunday night?" Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

…And that unbeliever shared the same apartment with him.

Izzy was the son of Lucas' host family and one of the few teenagers that actually admitted to associating with him. It had been a difficult struggle for both boys to even _begin_ to get used to each other's habits.Looking exasperated, Lucas declared, "Izzy. I've been here two and a half months! You should know that home_work_ is for home_room_ by now! Come one, man! You're slow, but not _that_ slow!"

"And you _wonder_ why you only have a C average," Izzy commented, taking a sip from his glass of water.

It was fairly close to noon, and both anticipated the arrival of their friend Ken from Tamachi. Ken hadn't answered the phone when they had called at nine o'clock that morning, but they assumed that he must've stepped out for the moment and left a message on the machine. Hopefully, he would see it. Just to be sure, Izzy had sent an e-mail to the youngest of the three via the D-terminals that the team of Digidestined had. Even though their adventures in the Digiworld had come to an end, they still kept and used that piece of equipment. (They also kept their Digivices – and Ken's Crest of Kindness – as momentos.)

A buzzing reached Lucas' ears as he opened his mouth to reply. He gave a sudden shriek as Tentomon flew into his room and landed next to the redhead. He gripped his chest dramatically. "Give me a heart attack, why don't you?!"

The beetle Digimon and the American hadn't gotten off on the right foot. Tentomon had been helping Izzy finish straightening up the guestroom when Lucas had arrived, and the American had decided to go directly to his room. The first thing he had seen what he described as a "freakin' huge bug", and it took ten minutes for the Izumi family to calm him down.

"What's the matter?" the redhead teased. "Does Tento _scare_ the big bad American senior?"

The senior wanted to pound the sophomore's smirk into the ground. "At least the big bad American senior isn't a shrimpy, girly-looking sophomore!"

Just as Izzy gave Lucas a raspberry, Ken walked in the door. Neither the sophomore nor the senior had heard the doorbell ring and Mrs. Izumi answering the door.

The blue-haired teen raised an eyebrow. "That was mature."

"What took you so long?" Izzy asked.

"Soccer game."

The two other teens nodded in understanding. Ken was the captain of his soccer team and had led his team to victory on many occasions. The soccer season was one of the busiest times in his year…not that he minded of course. Playing soccer was one of Ken's favorite things to do.

"He was checking out, Yolei," Lucas teased, smirking as he earned a glare from the blue-haired genius.

"Was **_not!_** Believe it or not, I have _no_ desire to have a romantic relationship with anyone at this moment in time. Besides, Yolei's just my friend," Ken said, crossing his arms.

"Uh...huh...sssssuuuuuuuurrrreeeeeeee!"

"I am _not_ interested in her! I would don't want to date her!" Ken gave a sudden, sly smile. "Besides, I know who Izzy has a crush on…"

"Shut up, soccer brain…" the redhead growled.

"Duh," Lucas stated. "It's obvious!"

"I don't have a crush on anyone!" the Digidestined of Knowledge protested.

"Oh, really?" Ken asked, smiling knowingly.

"Pshaw!" Lucas said, waving a hand as if to deflect Izzy's denials.

"I **_don't!!!"_**

"Me thinks the boy denies too much," the blue-haired teen commented, grinning from ear to ear.

"And your Crest is Kindness…" Izzy grumbled under his breath. More loudly, he asked, "Purposely misquoting Shakespeare?"

Giving his red-haired friend a wink, the younger teen said, "I'll sink to it."

"Oi. Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Lucas said, interrupting Izzy and Ken's banter. He paused, then grinned. "Boy! This is convenient! You two _look_ like girls! Ha ha!"

Ignoring Lucas, Ken raised a hand dramatically, holding one of Lucas' necklaces (a thick hemp necklace with a small pewter skull) in his hand. "Alas! Poor Yorick! I knew him well!" He grinned. "We used to go bowling on Thursdays!" He lowered his hand and looked at the small skull. "He was a little thing."

"Ken, shut up," Izzy ordered. "Lucas, you, too. And, Lucas, you die in your sleep tonight."

"Ooh…I'm scared. Really. Frightened. I'm shaking," was the sarcastic response.

"I have the key to your room. Remember that."

"Who said I'll be in my room?"

"Our apartment's not that large. There's not many places you can hide."

"I never said I'd be hiding!"

"Where're you planning on going?"

"Nowhere. I'll be your room performing a demon-calling ritual so you have Yolei following you around everywhere...you, too, Ken!"

The two older teens were shocked when they heard a small, pathetic squeak escape their younger friend's lips as he hid behind Izzy.

Never one to miss an opportunity for comic relief, Lucas proclaimed, "Fear me as you should! Muahahaha!"

The redhead looked over his shoulder at his blue-haired friend. "…And yet, you're so brave on our little 'missions'."

"Yolei scares me," Ken stated. "Especially when it's 'that time of month' or she's going guy crazy."

"Spirits don't scare you but Yolei does? Dude..." The American was in awe of how much power the purple-haired girl, which he had only met once or twice before, held over the Ichijouji teen. Then, his wandering mind snapped back to what he wanted to tell the pair of younger teens. "Dude! That reminds me!"

Tentomon tilted his head to one side. "How can Yolei being able to scare Ken remind you of something?"

Lucas gave a nervous glance to the beetle. "Uh…Ten-Tenta-Tento-uh…hey, Bug…"

Izzy slapped his hand to his forehead. He'd been trying to teach Lucas to pronounce Tentomon's name for weeks now, and the American still hadn't gotten it right. Perhaps it was a bit of payback from Lucas' "Lucas Fate Gods" since he couldn't pronounce Lucas' last name of "Wolenczak".

The American shot the redheaded Japanese teen a withering glare before he refocused his attention on the Digimon before him. "Do you think you could go…I don't know…do something somewhere else? You're freakin' me out, man…"

Tentomon exchanged a look with his partner before buzzing out to locate Mrs. Izumi. Perhaps she would give him something to do.

The senior breathed a sigh of relief. "I still haven't met _your_ Digimon yet, Ken. What's he…she…it like?"

"Wormmon's pretty cool. And he's kinda cute…as several people have told him," Ken answered, smiling.

At the name "Wormmon", Lucas immediately envisioned a gigantic earthworm. "How can a _worm_ be _cute?"_

"No, he's actually a green caterpillar."

A pause.

"And his name's 'Wormmon'?"

"Yeah."

"…Why…?"

The Digidestined of Kindness shrugged. "I dunno. I just don't question Digimon names anymore. The reasons behind some of them are pretty bizarre."

"Oh. _Anyways,_ I was readin' something really _interesting_ the other day. It was an article about this town…heehee…its surrounded by cemeteries!"

Izzy immediately interrupted, protesting, "Of for cryin'…**Mmph!"**

The blue-haired teen had quickly covered Izzy's mouth with his hand, silencing the redhead quite effectively. He leaned over the shorter – yet older – teen's shoulder. "Ignore him," Ken told Lucas. "I wanna hear this!"

His excitement growing, Lucas told his audience, "Some people claim that they have seen and been attacked by spirits!"

****

"We're there!" Ken shouted, his smile wide with excitement.

****

"Mmph?!" was Izzy's response.

"They're intrigued! Excellent!" Lucas said, putting a hand to his chin and purposely mimicking a Dell commercial he had recently seen.

"All right!" the blue-haired teen shouted, releasing Izzy's mouth in order to pump a fist enthusiastically into the air.

After his first two encounters, Lucas had found Ken to become a kindred spirit in investigating all things paranormal. This aided in the voting on whether or not to go ghost hunting. Izzy was always outnumbered two to one.

"Don't _I_ get a say in this?!" Izzy exclaimed.

"So...when do you have a free weekend?" the American asked Ken, ignoring the teen he shared the apartment with.

"Let me think. Uh...hmm...I think I may need to double check my calendar, but I think I have a free weekend two weeks from now," Ken answered.

"This is going to be so cool! Right, Izzy?"

The redhead crossed his arms and glared at the older teen. "Give me one good reason to agree to this."

"I know Kari's phone number," Ken reminded him, his voice practically purring.

Picking up on Ken's threat, Lucas added, "And I do a _wonderful_ impression of you!"

The soccer player of the group smiled devilishly as his redheaded friend paled. It was obvious that the Izumi teen knew the threat they posed to his personal life.

Izzy quickly clapped his hands together, smiling as brightly as possible. "Okay! Let's do this, shall we?!"

The Ichijouji boy gave Izzy a slow, satisfied smile. "I knew you'd see things our way…"

~@~

On the Friday two weeks later, Izzy and Lucas sat in the stands at Odaiba's soccer field. As the players passed, blocked, weaved, and ran up and down the field, the stadium was abuzz with the fans excited shouts. The game between rivals Obaiba and Tamachi was tied with six minutes left on the clock. Down on the field, the Obaiba right forward side-tackled Kyo, Tamachi's back-up striker, knocking the ball out of bounds.

"Oh yeah! It's out on Obaiba! Booya! Good call!" Standing on his seat and doing the "stupid" dance, the tall American then turned to one of his neighbors, trying to get them to do the "wave".

Izzy sat in his seat, pretending he didn't know the loud person standing next to him. "Hey, Lucas. Sit down! For crying out loud! You're going to get us in trouble!" he hissed, glancing around to see if there were any stadium attendants lurking about.

The older teen smirked and plopped down into the bleachers again. Three minutes were left on the clock and Ken was coming strong up the field.

****

"GO, KEN!" the pair shouted together.

They watched eagerly as Ken faked a kick into the goal and passed the ball. Seiji smacked the ball past the goalie and scored.

****

"YEAH! GO, TAMACHI!"

The Tamachi side of the stadium stood up in a roar of shouts and screams. For the rest of the game the Tamachi team, spurred on by their fans, held Obaiba at bay.

After the game, the redheaded teen and his older friend picked their way through the stands to the field. There they were to meet Ken's parents, who wanted to meet Lucas. As the pair walked up, the younger teen was talking to his parents as they were handing him his bags. Lucas had planned on leaving after the game so they could stay longer at this haunted town. 

"Great game, Ken!" Izzy beamed as he congratulated his younger friend.

"Dude." Shooting the blue-haired teen a thumbs-up, Lucas smirked.

"Thanks, guys." Ken smiled. Then turning to his parents, "This is Lucas. He's going to drive us over to the town!"

Lucas bowed slightly and extended a hand. "Nice to actually meet you, when it's not raining in your apartment!"

"Nice to meet you, Lucas." The Ichijouji's replied. "So, you're a good driver?"

"Oh yeah! I'm a really, really, really good driver!" Grinning from ear to ear, Lucas only hoped that Izzy wouldn't say anything.

"Yep," affirmed Izzy, casting a sidelong glance at the older teen. 

"Okay…Well, Ken, here's some phone numbers in case you need us!" Mrs. Ichijouji leaned over and kissed Ken's forehead. "Be safe."

"Aw, Mama! I will! I will! OK!?" Slightly red, Ken turned back to his friends. "Let's go!"

~@~

It was a four-hour drive from Tamachi to the town of Mugen, Lucas passed the time by reading road signs out loud and counting cars.

"2,468…2,469…Come to Burger King, where the Whopper is King!...2,470…2,471…."

Ken glanced up from the road map, he had called shotgun, "Turn here…"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" 

Ken turned around and discovered that Izzy had fallen asleep in the back seat. "I don't believe it…he fell asleep!"

"2,488…2,48—What? He's asleep! Hahaha!" Lucas smirked…then looked annoyed. "Damn. Lost count."

It was about ten thirty when they pulled into Mugen. Ken, by this time, had become quite bored and fiddled with a pencil, drawing lines from here to there and then erasing the lines. Izzy had woken up in the back seat and was re-reading the information they had collected on Mugen's hauntings, using a penlight to read the words on the pages. Lucas was singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" for the first time after singing other equally annoying car songs.

As Ken's pencil idly traced patterns between cities, he couldn't help noticing the strange way that the five cemeteries were positioned around the town. Curiosity peaked, he drew lines between the different cities, forming a pentagon around the city. Then, he began drawing other lines, connecting cemeteries that were across and diagonal from each other. When finished, he stopped and stared.

Izzy glanced up as he heard a small gulp from his blue-haired friend. "What's wrong with you? Getting car sick?"

"Out the window! Puke **_out the window!"_** Lucas ordered, eyes wide but still focused on the road ahead as he searched for the Comfort Inn they would be spending the next two nights in.

"I'm not car sick…" the Ichijouji teen muttered.

"Oh. Okay."

"What's wrong?" the redhead asked, leaning over Ken's shoulder and stretching his seatbelt to the max.

Ken paused before holding up the map of Mugen for Izzy to see. Izzy clicked his penlight on and studied the map.

The lines Ken had drawn formed a perfect pentagram.

~@~

The American had hotly protested against sharing a bed with either of the two Japanese teens. He demanded his own bed out of the two twin beds that occupied the room. Ken and Izzy didn't argue with Lucas since they really didn't mind, but Izzy _did_ mutter a few jeering remarks in Lucas' direction before he fell asleep.

The next morning, the three teens planned out how they would go about their ghost hunting. They had called ahead to the caretaker of an old asylum that was supposed to be haunted and also to the head of the college that was also supposed to be haunted so they didn't have to go through the hassle of gaining permission.

Late that afternoon, they arrived at the old asylum. Lucas shivered but not with cold. Izzy and Ken gave him strange looks, but said nothing.

The caretaker opened her mouth to explain about the old asylum, but Izzy cut her off. "We've already done a background check, ma'am. There's no need to tell us."

The caretaker merely smiled. "Well, I'll be accompanying you boys to make sure you don't hurt yourselves in here."

She reached to turn on the lights, but Lucas stopped her. "We've got flashlights."

"'We _have_ flashlights'," Izzy corrected.

As the American stuck his tongue out at the redhead, the Ichijouji boy added, "And the little camera has a light on it. Besides, maybe the darkness will attract something."

Izzy merely rolled his eyes at this remark, to which Ken merely smirked. The redhead sighed and said, "Let's move out, troops."

Together, the four of them began to walk through the halls of the old asylum.

In many rooms, rusted chains still clung to the walls, giving silent testimony to the many inmates that had been locked up there in the past. The wood floors creaked with age as the three ghost hunters and the adult accompanying them stepped on them. The wind blew across an old chimney, creating a low, eerie moaning sound.

Izzy – flashlight in hand – was the first to descend the stairs to the basement. "Now entering the ancient realms of 'Dr. Lobotomy'."

"Ha ha. Funny, Izzy," Lucas commented, trying not to show off how scared he was.

"Seriously. If you'd been listening to what I told you earlier, you'd know this."

"Huh?"

The caretaker explained, "'Dr. Lobotomy' was the name given to a doctor that would visit here from time to time. He was given that nickname due to the fact that he gave lobotomies by shoving an ice pick into a patient's head and swirling it around, effectively destroying the frontal lobes. He could do about twenty lobotomies a day."

Lucas paled, feeling nauseous. The thought of how much blood that most likely came from those lobotomies made him want to pass out. "Okay! Can we go off on happier topics?!"

"How about the story about the missing female inmate?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow that was blocked from view by the camera hiding most of his face.

"Does this story involve blood?" the American asked.

As they ascended a new flight of stairs to the attic, the blue-haired teen said in an eerie voice, "When they were clearing this place out, they couldn't find this one woman inmate. They searched the asylum from top to bottom, but couldn't find her. After a few days, they gave up, thinking she was dead." He smiled as Lucas glanced back at him. "A few people on the street saw her a few weeks later in the attic window. She was obviously stuck inside. Instead of waving for help, she undressed herself, folded up her clothes, and set them on the windowsill."

"What a pleasant thought, Ken. I bet you enjoyed this story," Lucas commented, smirking.

They reached the attic and began to explore. Izzy stopped over one spot, staring in disbelief. None of his three companions noticed as Ken continued the story.

"Well, when they went up to get her, she had already laid down on the floor and died. When they pulled her up, she left this really weird mark."

"Like, what _kind_ of really weird mark?" Lucas asked, unimpressed.

"Like maybe this one?" the redhead squeaked out.

"Eh?" the two other teenagers asked, walking over to their friend.

Ken's eyes widened as he stared at the human-shaped mark on the floor. "Yeah. Like that one."

The senior's eyes almost popped out of his head as he stared at the mark. Against the dark colored floor, the white mark that clearly showed a human's head, hands, arms, body, legs, and feet practically leaped out at him. He commented, "Well. _There's_ something you don't see everyday."

"Wh-whatever, Lucas," Izzy stuttered, his eyes never leaving the mark on the floor.

Despite Izzy's skepticism, the mark on the floor defied all logic and all possible explanation. It was obvious that the mark had not been burned into the floor, and he could figure out no other way to explain away the mark. His skepticism took a serious beating in that moment.

Ken glanced at his red-haired friend, but the redhead refused to make eye contact with anything but the mark on the floor. Quietly, he suggested, "I think we better head over to the college and take a look at that dorm room. Thank you for your help, ma'am."

"My pleasure, boys. Have fun!"

~@~

"So what's the story with the college again?" Ken asked. "Refresh my memory."

"Okay, there's actually two stories. One of those stories ties in with that mark." Izzy shivered at the memory. "Supposedly, a bunch of college students went to the asylum, and one of them – a girl – touched the mark. According to a note she left, the ghost of the inmate followed her back to her dorm room and was haunting her. They found her a few days after she had returned from the asylum. She'd killed herself."

"Narsty," was the American's comment.

"The other story has to do with another girl. She supposedly performed black magic in her dorm room. On one night, everything started moving on its own, and the other students heard strange chants and stuff from her dorm room. They thought she was conjuring up a demon. They went into her dorm room about three days later to check on her and found that she'd committed suicide. She wrote some pretty weird symbols on the wall in her own blood."

"Holy – "

"Lucas, nothing of that sort is holy. Don't bother finishing the phrase."

"Fine!" This was accompanied by a raspberry.

"Anyway, they cleaned up the dorm room and painted over the symbols with several coats of paint. However, the symbols came back, actually bleeding through the paint. No matter how many times they tried to cover up the blood stains, the symbols kept bleeding through."

"And this is the part where I start pukin' my guts out," Lucas commented, gripping his stomach dramatically.

"Scared of blood?" Ken teased.

"Sorta…"

"Majorly," Izzy said, smirking. "He can't _stand_ the sight of it. Even if it's just giving blood at the blood bank and there's no threat to his life."

"I hate giving blood," Lucas grumbled. "I have to close my eyes. And I always get a cute lady nurse, and then they think I'm a wuss."

The only resident of Tamachi quickly filed away this new information in his mind. It was the perfect fodder for future attacks on Lucas' ego. However, it didn't mean that he wouldn't use this newfound information at the present moment. "Wimpy Lucas. Can't take it?"

Pride insulted, Lucas attempted to make himself appear a bit more important. "Listen, pal, I'll have you know that there's a Lucas County in Ohio!"

"It's probably barely big enough to hold your ego," the redhead stated, laughing as Lucas fumed. "Anyway, the story didn't end there. On the door in the wood grain, you're supposed to see a demon's face. You can see the eyes and the horns." He lowered his voice. "Well, with the blood seeping through the paint and everything – and "everything" includes several strange, unexplainable noises – nobody wanted that dorm room anymore. So they ripped out the wall – it was the only way to get rid of the bloody signs – and turned the dorm room into a boiler room."

"We don't get to see the bloody symbols?" Lucas asked.

"Nope."

"Good. That wouldn't make my day. But the demon face thing sounds interesting. Did they change the door?"

"Nope. Still the same door."

"Cool."

The three teenagers met up with the dean and soon stood outside of the dorm room-turned-boiler room. Izzy shone his flashlight on the door.

The blue-haired teen sucked in a quick breath of surprise as the redhead whispered, "Get a shot of _that."_

Two cameras focused their complete attention on Izzy and the door. Four black marks on the door held the teens' attention. The top two curled up like a pair of horns. But it was the bottom two marks that chilled the teens to the bone. These two black marks were actually a pair of demonic eyes. Just like the mark at the asylum, there was no way that these marks could've been burned into the door. The marks were a part of the wood grain itself.

Izzy began to point and trace the different marks as he said, "There's the two horns. And there're the demon's eyes…"

"Jesus Christ…" Lucas swore. He paused. "Sorry, Jesus."

The dean allowed them to enter the boiler room. The normal noises that accompanied a boiler room reached their ears in seconds. They walked further and further into the room.

"This is where the wall was," the dean stated, motioning with his hand.

__

Slam!

"What was that?!" the blue-haired teen asked.

"The door just slammed shut!" the foreign exchange student told him.

"I'm suddenly reminded of the _Yakatori_…" Ken moaned.

A loud _bang_ that had absolutely nothing to do with the boiler caused them all to jump.

The redhead of the group trembled and stated, "We leave. Now."

"I second that!" Lucas added as they began to hurry towards the door.

"Can't we put on some 'Relax-O-Vision'?" Ken whimpered.

As the four continued towards the door, Lucas – who was in the lead – froze, causing the others to run into him.

"What's the hold-up?!" Izzy demanded.

"She's right here…" the senior stated, speaking in a voice that proved he had indeed seen Poltergeist.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, the Digidestined of Kindness stated, "Quiet, Lucas! You sound like someone from a co-authored fanfic!"

"I'm serious, man…"

This was too much for the Izumi teenager as he shoved his two friends out the door, the dean just behind him. The redhead glanced back for a moment as the dean shut the door, locking it. His eyes briefly lighted on the demonic face in the wood grain.

The inevitable had happened.

Koushiro Izumi was a skeptic no more.


	5. Case #4: Paris, the City of Fear

Flip City 

Flip City

By Cybra and spam

Cybra's A/N: Hey, y'all! Having fun? Have we frightened anyone yet? ^^ No? Well, this one should creep you out a little! Heh heh heh… Also, send _lots_ of reviews, Lucas fans! October 31st was Lucas' birthday! Be nice and humor the new 18 year-old by sending belated birthday wishes and nice reviews. Also, here's a link to spam's manga Flesh and Blood! If you like Lucas, you'll like her manga since he's the star!!

****

spam's A/N: Yo, peoplies! Enjoying the ride so far? Well, if you're here reading this you must like parts of it! XD Don't forget to review, Cybra may not need the advice but as far as writing goes I suck! Have fun, peace!

****

Disclaimer: Digimon is not ours, nothing, not the story idea or the characters or all the money that these people are making off us. HOWEVER! spam does have her claim to fame, Lucas! Don't steal, or rabid squirrels will fester under your bed. (Oh yeah, I bet you can tell who wrote _this_ disclaimer.)

Case #4: Paris, the City of Fear

The musty, dank smell of the catacombs rushed out to greet the three teenagers as their guide opened the door. Lucas wrinkled his nose but said nothing. Ken, on the other hand, voiced his opinion on the matter.

"How long are we going to be down there? That is one nasty smell!"

"You're talking again, that's a bad habit," retorted the Izumi teen.

The redhead was not too particularly happy about being dragged halfway around the world to go see more dead people. After the Mugen experience Izzy had dropped some of his skepticism, but still had a healthy amount of it remaining, on several of their "adventures" after Mugen so he kept the other two teens in line. In the short span of three weeks between Mugen and Paris – where they were at the moment – the trio had seen and investigated several unexplainable events.

Ken looked at the checklist. "Batteries?"

"Check."

"Helmets?"

"Check."

"Camera?"

"Check."

"Spines?"

"_Lucas_!" Ken looked slightly annoyed at the American's interruption to his checklist while Izzy merely shook his head.

"Looks like we're all set. Thanks," the redhead said cordially to the guide.

With that, the guide vanished back upstairs leaving the teens alone at the entrance. Glancing at the sign above the doorway Ken morbidly noted the translation: "STOP – This is the Empire of Death."

"La time is la wasting!"

"That's not French, Lucas." grumbled Izzy.

"Heh. Of course it's le French. Are you stupid or something?" Imitating his favorite movie, Lucas continued on, "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Okay!?"

"This…is going to be the longest night of my life…" 

~@~

"I'd never thought I'd be in a cave crawling through dead people." 

"We're not in a cave, Lucas," Ken pointed out.

While the American brushed off the comment, the blue-haired teen turned and looked back at Izzy. His older friend flashed him a grim smirk, reassuring Ken that Izzy wasn't going to let them have an adventure without him. Besides, Izzy had always said that the other teens needed someone on the team who "still had their head attached". Several minutes later, they stepped out into an open cavern. It was one of the mass grave sites, one that was not shown to the public.

"Finally! My back is killing me!" the soccer player complained.

Izzy rubbed his equally sore back as Lucas fussed with a map.

"Bloody map…unfold! Ah…there we go…" muttered the American. "Ah…HERE!"

The room echoed with Lucas's sudden outburst, causing his two younger friends to jerk around. 

"Must you always do _that_?" Izzy asked, exasperated.

"What?"

"Oh, nevermind. Here what?"

"Oh, yeah." Grinning ear to ear, he continued, "This is where everybody says the dude was heading, at least that's what he told his buddies."

"Dude…heh heh." Ken snickered at Lucas's abuse of the language.

Izzy, however, wanted to get straight to the point, and get out of there. "What 'dude'?"

"I dunno…but maybe we'll find something!"

"Lucas…we're going through this little trip without a guide and totally ignorant as to _why_ exactly we're here?!"

"That's about the size of it."

The redhead flexed his fingers threateningly, looking pointedly at the American's throat. "I'm going…to kill you…"

As the eldest of the three took a step back and away from the sophomore, the soccer player cut in, "You coulda just asked me, ya know."

The two older teens turned and stared.

Taking this as a cue to go on, the Ichijouji teen shrugged and stated, "Who do you think looked this one up? It wasn't you, Lucas, and it definitely wasn't _you_, Izzy."

The senior and the sophomore looked at each other. Neither was amused.

"So, who's the dude that that guide was telling us about?!" Lucas demanded.

As Ken checked the map Lucas held, he explained, "Some tourist came down here and got lost in the catacombs. Nobody ever found him. The only proof he ever existed is the video tape from the camera he dropped when he suddenly started running."

"Fantastic. Now, _we_ might have the _pleasure_ of joining him!" Izzy snapped.

The blue-haired teen ignored this as he slowly grinned, holding one of the flashlights beneath his chin to eerily light up his face. "Some people say that here in the catacombs is the gate to Hell. Maybe that guy found it."

Izzy snatched the flashlight from Ken's hand and shown it on the map. "Use it or you're gonna lose it."

"That's _my_ flashlight!" was the childish protest.

Within five minutes, the trio began to walk further into the catacombs. The reason they had no guide was now very clear to Lucas and Izzy. No guide would accept the job with the amount of money they had been willing to pay. Now, they had to go solo through the catacombs.

The catacombs of Paris are actually quite famous. They go down several hundred feet below street level. Another thing that the catacombs are famous for is that the skeletons of millions of people had been dumped into them. Exposed skeletons filled quite a few of the tunnels, especially in the lower levels.

The three intrepid (or stupid, however you want to look at it) explorers had only the clues off of the missing person's tape to guide them in hopes of finding the missing man. A bizarre drawing on the wall that sort of represented a human and bones pointing in the shapes of arrows were primarily what they were looking for. Armed only with flashlights, enough batteries to last them for several hours, and a map, the trio continued onward and downward, going deeper and deeper into the catacombs of Paris.

~@~

Walking in silence for a very long time, the trio picked their way slowly through the winding dank tunnels of the catacomb. Izzy was at the head (since he had determined that Lucas could not read the map) with the soccer player walking behind him. Lucas hung behind and remained surprisingly quiet. This, of course, worried Ken because the problem was always getting Lucas to shut up.

The youngest teen caught up with redheaded leader. "I'm worried."

"Why? We have enough batteries and we have a map and – "

"No! Not about that…it's just. Lucas has been awfully quiet, you know?"

"Yeah."

"And I – Hey!" Ken stopped short and pointed to the ground.

Izzy followed his friend's finger to some bones on the ground. Someone had placed them in the shape of an arrow. The younger teens looked at each other in surprise. 

"Wassup?" called the eldest teenager. He sauntered up to the pair. "Oh! How quaint! My Grandma had one of those in her front yard to scare away solicitors."

Izzy raised an eyebrow, "Really!?"

"Yes. And she had a black talking cat, rode around on a broomstick, and ate small children."

"Har har, Lucas."

"Ok…I'm serious about the eating kids part."

Izzy shook his head in dismay.

Ken was perking back up and shouted, "Let's go this way then!"

In silence, the three explorers followed Ken down another corridor. The eldest of the three following the other two more slowly as time went on, becoming more and more reluctant to continue. 

~@~

"Check it out!"

Ken pointed a flashlight at the wall and the drawing while Izzy went up for a closer look. The crudely drawn figure looked hastily painted, with what Izzy could not say. The paint – if that was what it was – was a full moon white color and looked as if it had been there for ages. Lucas stepped up next to Izzy, but was looking in another direction; down. A black, gaping hole was about twenty feet to the left of the drawing. 

"Is that on the map, Ken?" called Lucas.

"Is _what_ on the map?" was the annoyed response.

"That hole."

"Uh…I don't know! Come here and hold the flashlight! I only have two hands you know!"

A moment later, Ken gave Lucas an answer, "Um…As far as I can tell, it's part of the catacombs that is _supposed_ to be sealed up."

"Should we investigate?" asked Izzy, returning from his examination.

"Might as well."

The two younger teens started for the hole.

"I'm not going."

Startled the pair turned back toward Lucas.

Ken raised his eyebrows in alarm. "_You're_ not going? You're the one who's usually first!"

"I'm not going down…._there_." Lucas sat down next to his backpack. "Come back in thirty minutes, if you're going down there, ok?"

The pair was stunned for a moment. Lucas missing out on a paranormal investigation? The universe had truly come to an end.

"Thirty minutes, gotcha."

With that the two younger teens disappeared into the dark abyss.

~@~

"I don't like this…" the blue-haired teenager muttered.

The hairs on the back of the soccer player's neck had bristled as the seconds had slowly ticked by. It almost felt as though someone were watching or following. However, each time he turned to look, nobody was in sight.

Finally, he shouted behind them, his voice echoing in the dark hallway, **"Lucas, this isn't funny!"**

Silence answered the younger of the two computer geniuses.

Izzy gave Ken a worried look. "Don't tell me that you're about to crack."

The younger teen gave his older friend an incredulous look. Could it be that Izzy didn't feel that weird sensation that comes when you think you're being followed?

The redhead tried to keep himself calm. In reality, he had that bizarre feeling that they were being followed as well. He tried not to shiver as a sudden cold chill flew up his spine, but there was no breeze in the catacombs to cause such a chill. It was unearthly, unnatural…

__

Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp! Heavy, running footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. The steps grew louder and louder. The source was coming closer…

The two teenagers whirled as the steps grew so loud that it seemed as if the source were right behind them…

Nothing.

The footsteps reached their highest volume as they passed Izzy and Ken. Then, the running footsteps began to fade away into the darkness.

The two members of the Digidestined turned to face each other, white-faced.

The one who held the Crest of Kindness held up a finger as he stated, "I think this is the part where we go running back to our starting point screaming in terror."

"Yup!" was the slightly high-pitched reply.

Two screams of terror echoed down the hallway as the two teenagers fled back to the third member of their group.

~@~

Gasping as they came out of the hole, Izzy and Ken looked around the chamber where they had left Lucas earlier. He wasn't there.

"Lucas!?" the redhead shouted in fear.

Izzy, first out of the hole, shone his flashlight about the room. All he saw was the older teenager's old, beat-up backpack. He dashed to the backpack and hunted around in it. All of Lucas' gear was still in its place…including Lucas' flashlight.

__

'This is not good,_'_ he thought. Lucas didn't have a flashlight or a map. Where could he be? And more importantly, why did he leave?

Ken clamored up next. "Where's Lucas?"

"I dunno!"

Ken stooped down to Lucas's abused backpack; his jacket was gone but everything else was still there. "He's…gone? Just like the tourist?" The blue-haired teen was shocked. 

"We have to find him!"

Running footsteps echoed from somewhere farther down the corridor. Immediately, the two teens assumed it was their missing friend.

****

"Lucas, wait!" Izzy hollered, sprinting down the hallway while awkwardly carrying the older teen's backpack in one hand and his flashlight in the other.

Ken had earned his nickname "Rocket", and he proved it by dashing ahead of Izzy, leading the way. Once in a while, he would stumble over a bone or two, but he continued his mad dash to catch the footsteps. He trusted his older friend to be able to follow him.

Two hearts pounded in two different chests. Adrenaline coursed through the veins of the two teenagers as they continued their run. Sweat dripped from their foreheads despite the unnatural chill in the air.

They knew this feeling. It was the feeling that you were not alone, and that to whatever was with you, you were simply prey. The adventures they had had in the Digital World had taught them the feeling of being hunted. Now, the feeling had returned, and they ran not only for their own lives but also for the life of their missing friend.

~@~

Pursuing the distant footsteps, Ken and Izzy slowed their pace. They had been running for almost forty-five minutes straight, and Lucas just kept going. The redhead had to stop, his legs were screaming for a break.

"K-Ken…hff…Wait a…minute."

The soccer player stopped and turned back around. His older friend was bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Ken then noticed that Izzy's labored breathing was the only sound in the dark chamber; Lucas, it seemed, had stopped as well.

"Izzy, come on! Lucas stopped, too! Maybe we can catch up with him and get the heck out of here!"

The redhead took in another gasp of air and nodded. The pair was off running again and the footsteps resumed once more. The computer geniuses continued on like this for an hour and a half before Izzy officially called it quits; he flopped down on the ground.

The younger teen stopped again. "Izzy?"

"Ken…I can't run like this…anymore!" the redhead had pushed himself past his limits. He silently swore, _'Lucas, if we ever find you, I'm going to kill you!'_

Ken shuffled around in his backpack, looking for more batteries. "Izzy…we have a problem."

"_Now_ what?"

"This is the last pair of batteries."

"Man, I wish Lucas was here so he could swear for us."

The soccer player held out a hand for his older friend. Pulling Izzy to his feet, Ken shined his flashlight down yet another dark corridor. 

"Just a little farther, Izzy, you can do it. We don't have to run."

"I guess so."

They headed down the corridor where they heard Lucas last. Straining his ears, Izzy looked grim. He couldn't hear Lucas running anymore. Both teens had another chill run down their spines. They were still being watched by someone; someone who didn't want them here…

The two Digidestined walked into a small chamber where an altar had been set up to consecrate the dead and their mass burial ground. Twin beams of light shone from the flashlights as they looked around.

"Woah. They sure buried a lot of people down here!" Izzy was reading the plaque on the altar. "Seven million! Geez!"

"Lucas!" Ken shouted in surprise.

Contained within the circle of light from Ken's flashlight was their missing friend. Lucas was sprawled on the floor, unconscious. The concerned blue haired teen rushed over and grabbed the American's hand. Izzy had also rushed over just as Ken jerked his hand away from the unconscious teen.

"What's wrong Ken?"

"He's…he's so cold!"

The redhead furrowed his eyebrows together in deep concern. Quickly checking for a pulse, Izzy, with a sigh of relief, found one. Now all they had to do was to wake Lucas up and get out of there.

"Let's try and wake him up."

The Digidestined of Kindness nodded and gently shook the eldest teen's shoulder.

The American moaned slightly and began to stir. "Oh man..."

"Lucas!" The redhead tried to contain his concern for his older friend but failed. "Are you alright!?"

"Yeah, if you'd get that damn flashlight out of my face!"

Ken couldn't help but chuckle. Lucas, no matter what the situation, always kept his sarcasm. As the older teen got to his feet, Ken noticed that he was very pale and had a few scratches on his face, but otherwise was fine.

"Where the hell am I!?"

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Well, as close to Hell as you can get."

"A comforting thought, Izzy," muttered Ken.

"How'd you find me all the out here?"

"We heard you running, Lucas." was the matter-of-fact reply from the Digidestined of Knowledge.

A bewildered look passed over the American's face. "I took off about ten minutes after you guys left."

A pause.

"We didn't get back up to where we left you until about forty minutes after we left," the soccer player informed Lucas.

Izzy pondered the new information. "So…if that wasn't you who was running…then who was it?"

The foreign exchange student looked grim, "It was the tourist."

Silence filled the small chamber once again as the three teenagers mulled over that last thought. Izzy was the first to speak again.

"Well, we can think about this later. The flashlights only have 2 to 4 hours of power left and we still have to find a way out of here."

Lucas grabbed his backpack from Izzy and slung it over his shoulder, while Ken handed him the other flashlight. They set out again.

~@~

"This is _so_ not happening…" Ken moaned.

Lucas and Izzy exchanged a worried look. They were presently standing under a manhole cover that led from the street into the catacombs. Ken was on the ladder in order to open up the manhole.

Ever the comedian, Lucas asked, "What's _your_ malfunction?"

"It's sealed up."

That simple sentence caused Lucas to become even paler than he already was. Izzy was suddenly reminded of the Bakemon that the vampire Digimon Myotismon had employed to do his bidding in the real world. The American's face was a perfect match for the color of the Bakemon's bodies.

"Lucas, I think you should sit down…" the redhead stated, easing his friend to the floor.

The blue-haired teen on the ladder glared up at the sealed manhole. In frustration, he clenched his hand into a fist and gave the manhole cover a punch before he could realize exactly what he was doing. The pain centers of his brain quickly informed him of how much pain he'd just caused himself, his reaction being a string of highly imaginative curses that left all three teenagers present to wonder if half of those things were even possible.

"You can't be serious," Izzy stated, eyes wide.

Lucas' jaw dropped. "That's just…wrong…Cats…and dogs…doing _that?!"_

"I wasn't exactly referring to that sentence, but I guess it would work for that, too," the redhead said, still staring at his younger friend.

The Ichijouji teen shook his hand in an attempt to ease the pain. "I haven't swore like that since…you know, Izzy."

The Digidestined of Knowledge did indeed know. Ken Ichijouji hadn't always been a nice guy. Before becoming a Digidestined, he had been the evil Digimon Emperor. He'd enslaved and killed Digimon – thinking that they weren't really alive – before the death of Wormmon had brought him back to his senses. Fortunately for Ken, Wormmon had been reborn in Primary Village soon afterward.

"I think I'll ask about this later," the only non-Digidestined of the group stated.

The redhead sighed and said, "We're wasting time, and wasting time means we're wasting battery power. And if we waste all of our battery power down here…"

"…We can kiss our chances of getting out of here 'goodbye'," Ken finished, beginning to climb down from the ladder.

"I just love it when you two get technical," the American grumbled as he began to rise to his feet once more. "How do you techno-geeks know so much about survival?"

"Try surviving several months in a Digital World," the two Digidestined replied as one, causing their friend to blink.

"Well, let's shove off…"

~@~

After three more hours in the closest thing to Hell a human can get to on Earth, the trio of teens – dirty, tired, and more than a little spooked – had finally managed to find a way out. They had been quiet the entire time they spent searching for a computer. After Ken opened the Digiport with his D3, they had entered the Digiworld in order to take a quick jump back to Japan. (Not only was traveling this way easier, but it was cheaper, too. After a few tries, they had discovered that if Lucas held on to one or both of the Digidestined teens, he could pass through the Digiport as well. After all, whatever they had carried from the real world into the Digiworld in the past had made it.)

Despite the fact that the trio was now four thousand miles from Paris they were still freaked out by the whole experience. Once inside the safety of Izzy's apartment, the American flung his backpack and flashlight on the couch. He grabbed the keys to the Camry off of the kitchen counter.

"Come on, man, I'll drive you home."

"No, no! I can take the train!" the Digidestined of Kindness waved off his friend's offer. To Ken, Lucas still looked very pale and not in any condition to drive.

"The train? At two AM in the friggin' morning!? Do you know what kind of psychos ride the train during _the day_? Just think of all the weirdos at night!!"

The taller teen yanked the soccer player out the door and turned back to Izzy, "I'll be back. Don't tell mum that I took the Camry."

"Lucas, chill. We have an alternative method." The redhead walked into his bedroom and looked to his bed. Just like normal, his partner was lying asleep at the foot of the bed like some bizarre sort of dog. "Tento?"

The beetle Digimon looked up at his exhausted partner. "Yes, Izzy?"

"I know it's late, but Ken needs a ride home. Lucas shouldn't be driving…"

"I heard that!" the American hissed.

"…Because he's too tired, but he's right about the crazies who ride the train at night. Still, Ken needs to be heading home. I'm not sure if he's awake enough anymore in order to program the D3 to take him home after he goes back through the Digiport."

"I understand, Izzy. I'll gladly do it!"

The redhead gave his inhuman friend a smile. He could always count on Tentomon to do something he asked.

Together, the human and Digimon walked back out into the living room.

Ken only glanced at the Digimon before saying, "The roof it is."

~@~

"Any particular reason why we're on the roof?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Izzy held his Digivice in his right hand. "This little baby's gonna get Ken home with Tentomon's help."

"What's the bug gonna do? Fly Ken home?"

"Exactly."

The American gave his Japanese friend an odd look. "You're more tired than I thought. Physics just won't allow the bug to do that. Even _I_ know that!"

"Watch." He paused then added, "Oh, yeah. And stand back."

Lucas had obviously seen the Digivice activating for a purpose but had not seen another use for the device. Quizzically raising an eyebrow, he complied with his younger friend's order.

The Digivice began to beep and glow…

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

****

"Ye-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!"

Where Tentomon had once stood, a large purple insect with a horn stood. The large insect – none other than Kabuterimon – looked down at the panicking American who was now hiding behind the two Japanese teens.

"Lucas, chill," Izzy ordered.

"Chill?" Lucas' teeth were chattering. "Man, I'm an ice cube!"

Ken smiled and turned to the American. "Thanks anyway, Lucas."

"No problems, man. Don't worry about." Lucas looked up at Kabuterimon again. "Where's my Raid…?"

"Raid?"

"Nevermind..."

As Izzy walked over to Kabuterimon to make sure the insect knew where he was going, there was an awkward pause between the other two teens.

"Just freaking ask me the freaking question already!" the American suddenly demanded, breaking the silence.

"Uh…well. Why'd you run off when you said you'd stay and wait for us?" the blue-haired Digidestined of Kindness asked while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well that's an easy one! Because something came at me and whatever it was…I dunno. It scared the hell outta me! So I just ran and ran until I collapsed. I figured you guys would never find me."

"Looks to me as if the tourist was helping you, Lucas. Maybe he suffered the same fate?"

"Yeah…maybe."

Another awkward pause as Ken began to walk towards Kabuterimon. Lucas warily followed.

"Lucas…" Ken began.

"Yeah?"

"Are you really all right?"

"Friggin' A, man! Ask me that again and I'll pop that silly hairstyle right off of your head!"

"Ok! Ok! Geez! Sorry I asked!" Ken sighed, "I just wanted to make sure. Izzy was really worried when we found you, not that he'll admit it…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. It's just that…I…I dunno. Nevermind. Just don't worry about me. I'll just slap a band-aid on at home and go to sleep…If I can go to sleep. Oh the joys of being an insomniac!"

"Lucas, you're rambling again."

"Ken, you're about two seconds from being publicly flogged, man."

"And flogging hurts, right?"

"Oh yeah. _A lot."_

The former Digimon Emperor grabbed hold of Kabuterimon and pulled himself up onto the insect's back. Within moments, Kabuterimon was in the air and flying towards Tamachi. Izzy sat next to Ken in silence. Since he was Kabuterimon's partner, Izzy had to come along to make sure that the Digimon of Knowledge wouldn't de-digivolve in mid-flight.

About twenty minutes later the blue-haired teen watched his older friend leave. Ken couldn't help but wonder about the strange and freaky events that occurred in Paris. He then wondered what they had really gotten themselves into.

The next day marked the beginning of Geist Investigators Inc. and even more strange and unexplainable events.


End file.
